RUNAWAY TWINS and RUNAWAY TWINS IN ALASKA: BOXED SET (8 page)

"Shine the light over there," Yellow Tooth instructed. The thin beam made little difference, and he shook his head. "Well, something or someone is down there…alive. Those cries didn't come from the air. He leaned over the edge and called out, "Who's there?"

Still no sound from the pit.

"Give me the flashlight," Yellow Tooth said.

Bull Neck moved closer to his partner. "Just tell me where to point it. You see something?"

"There by the ledge, thirty, forty feet down. I might've seen something move. I'm not sure."

"Where?"

Yellow Tooth pointed, and both men leaned forward to get a better view into the pit. At that instant, Rachel and Janie burst from their hiding place behind a long outcropping of rock along the wall to the rear of the guards. Janie raced straight toward Yellow Tooth on the left, and Rachel headed for Bull Neck on the right. Both men were balanced precariously over the edge, trying to figure out what was going on below. With arms outstretched and shoulders thrust forward, the twins rammed their targets simultaneously. The guards didn't have a chance. The line of least resistance for them was forward and down, and they toppled over the edge like two sacks of flour on their way down the storage shoot. They didn't go quietly. They screamed and cursed as if they couldn't believe someone would do such a thing to them. And as their voices began to fade, they called on their God to rescue them. He didn't respond.

"It worked," Rachel shouted. As she spoke, she fell into Janie's arms.

"I thought we were dead," said Janie.

From the spot where he had fallen, Justin called out. "You will be if you don't get over here and untie my hands and feet."

14
Aftermath

"My uncle's favorite word
was 'dumbfounded,' and that's the best word I can think of right now," said Justin. "I'm dumbfounded by what you girls have done for me. Where did you come from? You're like two angels sent to save me. What a wonderful, devious scheme. How'd you come up with it?"

"It was Rachel's idea," said Janie.

"Carried out to perfection by my terrific sister," said Rachel.

"I thought you guys were still back at the camp. How'd you get away? How'd you get here first? I've got a million questions."

They were still in the mine, sitting on the cold earth about twenty feet from the edge of the pit. For the next ten minutes Rachel and Janie explained how they had escaped from their room, journeyed up the mountain, run through the woods to stay ahead of Justin and the guards, and then lay in wait to execute their plan to lure the killers to their deaths.

"They deserved what they got," said Justin.

"Maybe so," said Janie, "but I hope I never have to do anything like that again."

Rachel was holding the small flashlight, and she shone it on her own face to emphasize her expression. "I hated it, too. I still feel sick inside, but we had no choice."

"I know one thing," said Justin. "We've got to get out of here. It won't be long till the other murderers come looking."

**

The Prophet's face was sweaty
and blotched and filled with hate and anger as he marched back and forth in front of his assembled believers. The failure of the twins to appear in the morning class session had at first irritated him; but as it became clear they were nowhere to be found, his irritation turned to fury. And he was now venting his rage on those who were supposed to watch over his brides-to-be.

Elder Mobly, who had been listening with his head down, now looked up and said, "I thought the girls were responding. I thought we were getting through to them."

"Deception!" screamed the Prophet. "That boy ruined them. Deceit, disloyalty, deception—it's all around me. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you are working against me. Take my word that such traitorous actions will produce harsh punishments, very harsh punishments."

Mobly said, "I don't think anyone in this room would—"

The Prophet cut him off with a wave of his hand. "We shall see, believe me, we shall see. No one can interfere with God's plan for our temple and escape punishment. God has personally come to me and revealed that from my loins will come two great world leaders—two boys, one from one twin and one from the other. These leaders will rule our congregation, then Montana, then the United States, and eventually the world. So now you can see why these girls are so vitally important to me. However, God said only that I would father these boys by a set of twins. He didn't specify the girls' names. So if Rachel and Janie Lemon aren't the chosen ones, it means God has another set of twins in mind. Frankly, I hope this doesn't turn out to be the case. But we shall see. Right now we've got to go out and find them." He turned to his remaining security guards. "Call for help. Get the entire security staff up here. We've used people in Missoula before—get them up here, but only the ones we can trust."

One of the guards said, "The twins're probably on the road, trying to find a ride down the mountain."

"Right," said the Prophet. "Send out all the cars and vans. Find them."

Mobly said, "They might stay off the road so we won't see them. They might walk down through the trees."

"Okay then," the Prophet said nodding. "Scour the woods between here and the highway. Scour the road and the woods. Don't let them make contact with outsiders. They're on their way down the mountain, that much we know for sure."

The back door had opened a few minutes earlier, and a squat man with a round face, oriental features, a small pointed chin, and the wisp of a scraggly beard stood listening to the Prophet's harangue. His name was Chukchi Zeja. He was a Siberian whom everyone called Chuky, a friendly, happy name that in no way reflected his morose, dark personality. He'd joined the Sheba Hill Temple because he believed everything the Prophet said, and also because no one else in Montana would have anything to do with him. It was rumored he'd spent time in several Siberian prison camps for a wide variety of crimes, including murder, and had escaped to Alaska, Canada, and then the United States. He was the Prophet's bodyguard and his enforcer. He carried out J.J. Flack's blackest orders and always without question. Everyone in the congregation gave him the widest latitude, and besides Flack himself, Chuky had no friends.

"Not so," he called out. "The twins don't go down mountain. They go up."

Flack motioned for his bodyguard to come join the group. Chuky complied, moving slowly across the room, his eyes darting left and right, as if he might be attacked at any moment.

Mobly spoke first. "Up? How could they go up? The only logical course is for them to go down the mountain—toward the highway."

"They go up," Chuky said.

Mobly and the rest of those assembled all looked doubtful, but the Prophet smiled patiently at the Siberian and said, "Please explain."

Chuky pointed to the back door. "They go down the back stairs and up the logging road, except they go through woods so leave no tracks. I find. I follow."

"How far?" asked Mobly. "Maybe they cut back somewhere in the trees and angled down toward the highway."

"No cut back. Tracks go up, up, a mile through woods and then on logging road. Then up, up. I don't follow. I come back here."

Mobly said, "If they're on the road then Karl and Brian will see them, pick them

up—" He stopped abruptly, apparently realizing not everyone in the room was aware of what Karl and Brian were doing high on the logging road.

The Prophet took over. "Yes, well, we'll take a look at all of the possibilities. For now, we need to get our bearings." He then dismissed most of the group and asked Mobly, another senior Elder, two guards, and Chuky to remain. When the main body had gone, he said, "The boy's punishment doesn't need to be advertised. He deserved everything he got, of course, but let's keep it in this circle for now."

Mobly nodded and stood silent.

"Now, Chuky," said Flack, "Elder Mobly's probably right, don't you think? Karl and Brian should be heading down now. Won't they find Rachel and Janie on the logging road?"

Chuky shrugged. "Maybe so, but why did twins go up in the first place?"

**

The large rock smashed
through the window of the SUV and landed in the driver's side front seat. Justin reached through the jagged hole and unlocked the door. "I wish one of us could drive," he said. "We'd take this truck down the mountain, roar past the camp and on down to the highway to Missoula."

"We don't know how to drive, and that's that," said Rachel.

"At least we can see what's in here," said Justin. "There's got to be some stuff we can use. It's tough and cold out here, and the higher we go, the tougher and colder it'll get."

"Couldn't we go down?" Rachel asked, "if not on the road, then through the trees, away from the road."

"That's the first thing they'll protect against," said Justin. "They'll expect us to go down. They'll fan out and make it impossible for us. So we go up, not down, over the top and into Idaho."

There wasn't much of value inside the SUV, but they did find a small lightweight silver tarp, a bag of potato chips, and a partially eaten tuna sandwich."

"Yech!" said Janie when she picked up the sandwich."

"You'll be glad we have it, believe me," said Justin. He rubbed his face. "Not much help here. I was hoping for a cigarette lighter. But we'll have to start our fires the old-fashioned way."

They laid their stash on the hood of the SUV: Flashlight, sheathed hunting knife, chips, sandwich, silver tarp. The three young people stared at their treasures and exchanged smiles. "Lewis and Clark would think we're crazy," said Justin.

"Maybe we are," said Janie.

15
Into the High Mountains

Justin led the twins
about four hundred yards up the logging road, telling them not to worry about making tracks, for he had a minor diversion in mind that he hoped would confuse any pursuers. He then turned north, off the road and into the woods. He continued in that direction for several hundred more yards. Next, he led the girls east, down the mountain and back toward the road until they'd reached a point close to the SUV where tracks were nearly impossible to read because of all of the activity around the vehicle. Then they crossed the road again, this time heading south. "It won't help much," said Justin, "especially if they have an experienced tracker along. But it might slow them down a little."

They continued to track south-southwest for the next four hours, Justin gauging direction from the sun, which had begun to peek through the clouds, and from the shadows cast by strategically placed sticks. He also used his non-digital watch to make more accurate measurements.

"What if we lose the sun again?" asked Rachel.

"Well, I can't be as accurate, but I think I can keep us from heading back the way we came. For example, we look for fallen trees, examine the stumps. Trees up here grow stronger on the equator side—the growth rings are farther apart. The rings are closer together on the side that faces the North Pole."

Janie said, "I'm glad you're with us, Justin. We'd march right back into their clutches if you weren't here."

"What about at night?" asked Rachel.

"We won't be traveling much at night—hopefully," Justin said. "But if we're forced to, and the moon and stars are out, we'll be okay. No moon, no stars, it's going to be tough."

They were hiking steadily upward, deeper and deeper into the wilderness, and even Justin had no idea how many hours or days it would take them to reach the spine of the Bitterroots and cross the Continental Divide. And once in Idaho they still wouldn't know the height of the mountains or the locations of any towns or villages. But the three twelve-year-old adventurers forged ahead, knowing that what lay behind was far worse than what lay ahead.

After several more hours, their stamina began to falter and they stopped to rest beneath an overhanging rock that jutted from a massive granite cliff face.

"It looks like two, maybe two-and-a-half hours till dark," said Justin. "We've got two big problems for now. First, we still need to put as much distance between us and Flack and his gang as we can. They might not be moving yet, but we can't be sure. Second, we need warmth and shelter for tonight. The temperature's already starting to drop. If we stop now, right here, we can use this ledge—pile boughs against the sides and front, build a fire, make a snug little house."

The girls examined the ledge above them and the way it stuck out on the sides. "It looks perfect," said Janie. "Food, water?"

"We melt snow for water, and we've got the tuna sandwich and the chips."

Rachel raised her head to the late afternoon sky. "There's still a lot of light left. I say we keep going, get as far away from them as we can."

"We might not find such a good place later," said Justin. "But I know what you mean. I want to get as far away as possible, too. What do you think, Janie?"

"Whatever you guys think."

"Then let's keep moving," said Justin, "for another hour, hour-and-a-half. If all else fails, we can dig a snow cave and crawl inside."

But a snow cave proved unnecessary, for when the time came to take advantage of the last remaining rays of daylight, a real cave presented itself. It was a neat little hole in the side of a limestone hill. It was eight feet high, five feet wide, and eight feet deep. The latter was important, Justin explained, because bears and other large creatures would likely find it not deep enough for their needs. Best of all, there was a large gap in the rocks above, about a foot inside the entrance.

"We can build our fire inside the cave," said Justin, "and the smoke'll go up through the gap—like a natural chimney."

"What about crawling creatures?" Janie asked.

Justin laughed. "They'll always be with us. We just have to be on the watch for the dangerous ones, like scorpions. That's one of the first things we do wherever we bed down. Check for creepy crawlers and sweep them out of our space. After that, the fire should keep them away."